Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Very boozy, this characteristic dominates the taste.The bourbon is not as flavourful a choice as could have been made. Some rye edge, more just big malting. generous retained head on an Amber coloured body.Apparently the better of their collaborations. Doug's bottle.So-so drinkability. (287 characters)

A: The beer is hazy dark amber in color and has a light amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a thin beige head that died down and left wispy patterns of bubbles on the surface and a collar around the edge of the glass.
S: There are moderately strong aromas of sweet malts and caramel in the nose. A bit of bourbon also becomes noticeable as the beer warms up.
T: The taste is similar to the smell and has some hints of bourbon from the barrel aging in the finish.
M: It feels full-bodied and a little sticky on the palate and has moderate amount of carbonation.
O:This beer is relatively easy to drink because the alcohol is well masked from the taste. It is a pleasant beer to sip. (696 characters)

On the heels of the BFM version, Terrapin's collaboration Barleywine takes a more common flavor profile. Where that first one was sour and acidic, this one made with Terrapin's more traditional yeast gives the ale a succulent and sultry profile.

The ale pours with a heavy visual weight. Its slow separation of ale from froth reveals a tawny-brown body underneath with ribbons of mahogany and rust. What forms on top is a dense meringue of sandy-tan foam that sticks around for half the session with subtle lacing. The ale takes on brandy-like proportions as much as it does beer.

Then to taste, the beer's robust sweetness really opens up- toffee and maple seduce the front of the tongue with its moderate syrupy character. Dark fruits of plumb, fig and date- as the alcohol spice add complexity, it's not so much bourbon as it is spiced rum and sherry wine. Its savory flavors are balanced ever so slightly with herbal tea-like flavors, wood spice and toasty grains.

Its mouthfeel is lightly creamy and firmly chewy. Dense and deliberate, the beer's light carbonation allows the ale to sit weightily on the tongue in order to saturation the taste buds fully with its sweet booziness. Finishing with a long and sweet linger, the beer's aftertaste extends well into the next sip.

Seriously meant for after dinner sipping, the ale is heavily dessert-like and practically begs for a pairing with Stilton Blue cheese. (1,680 characters)

This poured out as a nice looking amber color with some brown hues in there. The head was pretty big, the retention was strong and the lacing was pretty good too. The smell of the beer is boozy, big amounts of sweet malt on the nose with some caramel and wood also. The taste of the beer is sweet, it's got a decent dry bitter finish with a caramel flavor in there from start to finish. There are some subtle vanilla flavors in there too. The mouthfeel is pretty thick, decently carbonated and smooth. It's got some boozy heat in there too when served around room temp. Overall it's not a bad barley wine at all. Quite nice with a good complexity. (647 characters)

So, yeah, my experience with the BFM version of this beer was less than stellar, but hope remains for this one, as Spike has done some very good work in my eyes. Let's see: This stuff pours a clear amber-ruby topped by a half-finger or so of glowing off-cream foam. The nose comprises oak, bourbon, ruby red grapefruit flesh, mandarin orange syrup, sweet caramel, and a twinge of tangelo. The group doesn't seem to get along all that well, but the cacophony isn't too loud, necessarily. The taste brings in more of the same, with more rind for the tangelo and a hint of acetone. Once again, there isn't much cooperation among the flavors, but things don't go too far off the deep end. The body is a straight medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a sorta/kinda drying-ish finish. Overall, though this was still sort of a muddled beer, it did sit much better with me than the BFM version. I think the recipe still has some faults, but I don't completely mind finishing this bottle. (1,056 characters)

Nothin beats a good barrel aged barleywine during a big storm, and I’ve already reviewed the perfect beer for this weather, Mother of All Storms, but I did have this in the queue. Thanks to littletriggers (Reddit) for this one. With two great breweries, Terrapin and BFM, it must be something.

Pours a light fizzy barely head that is mostly just foamy bubbles somehow living on the top of the beer, but disappear to nothing fairly quickly, somewhat typical for 10% beer but that’s a little sad still, a slightly hazy darker cranberry red color.

Nose is loaded with sweets, tons of toffee and candy, caramel, some molasses and brown sugar, the candy from candy apples, syrup, etc. Light fruit aromas too, hint candied apple, light fig and white raisin, etc, with faint hints of esters from the booze. There’s also a very faint hint of bourbon barrel, but its quite a background aroma that I really have to seek out to get, and faint dusty wood. IN summary, nose is pretty much candy.

Taste brings more sweet malts, plenty of toffee and candy syrup, little molasses and brown sugar like as well, light nutty flavors, etc. Fruit comes in again, with a candied apple, light golden raisin and fig again, similarly to the nose, as well as a light fruity rye component that perhaps also brings a touch of spicy rye but hard to tell with all the sweets. This time however, a big dusty oak barrel cuts through, toasty oak with a dusty wooden shelf flavor, and hint of vanilla rounding, as well as a faint flavor of bourbon on the background, a light soft perhaps a wheated bourbon. Very light booze in the middle, some warming and tingly, that increases a bit the more I leave it in my mouth to swish around and gets a little tingly at points. The wooden barrel really comes on stronger than I thought it would for what the nose led it to be, and the fact that only 1/3 of the beer was there. Maybe that’s why they blended 2/3 fresh beer back in. Light syrupy sweet candy flavors stick to the mouth, and move to the sweet sticky finish that at least dries a bit. Long warming booze on the back of the throat, with a lingering candy syrup, toffee, candied fruits, and light very slightly earthy bitter hops coming out on the back end of the finish, and a light dusty barrel still.

Overall not bad, but not knock your socks off. It did have all the great sweet malt flavors, candy galore without being overly sweet, etc. The nose was mostly lacking barrel and bourbon altogether, but the flavor brought a nice barrel, with hint of bourbon, and good candied fruits. The hops barely come through on the finish which could have come in a bit on the front end for a nice touch, but not I’m nitpicking. A nice tasty beer overall that I can sip and ride out the storm. (2,865 characters)

I picked this up a while back and decided to give it a try after several months of cellaring. Poured chilled into a snifter.

the color is a deep burgundy/ dark garnet with tranlucent clarity and thick cream of beige with tight bead. The lace clings well and retention is decent. The smell is very earthy with prune and raisin oriented with dried fruit essence in the yeast ester and slight alcohol note with pine twigginess in aroma and subtle date notes. Mouthfeel is very intensely maltrich with spice and viscous in texture with mild bitterness w/ slight dry malt tinges and sweet elements that balance w/ dry alcoholic finish.

The taste has the aforementioned date and fig with mild raisin fruitiness and light toasted malt notes with subtle yeast that brings a mild fig-like earthiness and subtle pine from the hops which adds to the overall complexity with a moderate amount of alcohol in the finish. Overall a deep malt forward beer with dark fruit from the yeast makes for a pleasant sipper and contributes to a very rich and substantial ale-a collaboration that is fruity, spicy and drinkable. I recommend sharing this since it took me two sittings to finish. (1,174 characters)

Hazy, dark amber pour, with a thin off-white head that sank down to a small ringlet. Aroma of sweet caramel malts, toffee, bourbon-soaked oak. The taste was similar, caramel malts and toffee sweetness, hints of vanilla and dark fruit esters, light bourbon and oak. Pretty standard stuff, but also a bit too mellow for me...but then again I prefer the American-style to the English-style, so objectively, it's about right. Medium body, smooth, drinkable, with relatively well-hidden booziness. Solid. (499 characters)

This is a full flavored, complex barleywine. Each flavor appears as an individual at first. As the beer warms there is a little cohesion and balance that comes about. In the end, it's a nice barleywine, and definitely well worth trying. (455 characters)

Appearance: rich, deep brown amber with plenty of haze and a one-finger head of creamy tan foam. Pretty good!

Smell: richly malty with dank cereals, raisins and a general murkiness. Complexity is low for the style, but I like the murk.

Taste: amazingly mild for the strength and style of this beer. A wet-cereal graininess, almost reminiscent of rye, is right up front, followed by fruits and mustiness. Not outstanding, perhaps, but a decent example of the style.

Mouthfeel: medium-rich body with a moderate carbonation and a good silkiness. Creaminess is not high, but it's serviceable.

Overall: totally decent and quite drinkable for its strength. I never had this beer younger than its current 2 years; perhaps mellowing helped its drinkability? In any case, I like it. (859 characters)

Man do I feel like a sucker for some reason I though this was a 100% bourbon aged barleywine and found it a steal at $8.99 a bottle. Regardless I never had a Barleywine over two years old before so this should be an experience.

A - Surprisingly vibrant with carbonation giving me a 1/4 inch of mocha head that settles to a mild lace ring. Color is a very dirty amber brown.S - Smells of sweet sherry, some caramel malt, a touch of bourbon and maybe figs. No noticeable ABV in the smell.T - Not very hot but you can detect the heat, and surprisingly some bourbon (it's faint for aged 1/3 but it's there) Notes of sherry, toffee, and mentioned raisin and fig combination. Quite balanced more so than the 2011 version of Mad River's "John Barleywine" which is nice. All flavors seem to be balanced and accounted for.M - Has a bit of a harsh boozy bite but ABV is aged out pretty well. Not bad.

Overall seeing the latest scores made me kind of mad I got this but glad I tried it for myself. I found it much more balanced and drinkable than this years Boulder "Killer Penguin" or as stated the John Barleywine. Try it you may be as surprised as I was. (1,151 characters)

t - much like the nose a zap of caramel and toffee. there is some weirdness on the finish which is somewhat peat like. fairly one dimensional and a bit on the sweet side, but all in all, nice.

m - a bit thin and has a rubbery finish.

o - overall not as bad as i was lead to believe by some of the reviews. not the greatest barleywine in the world, but fairly good. finish is a bit odd, but other than that, this one is pretty nice. (786 characters)

Im sampling a 2011 bottle at cellar temp poured into a snifter. The beer is a simple clear chestnut hue with garnet highlights.A tightly packed beige head of 2cm fades to an edge layer and wispy island.

Aroma is big malty notes with some deep booze too. I get dark fruit, caramel, red grapes, bourbon and brown sugar. Rich and complex nose is very appealing.First sip reveals a mild spacious carbonation and smooth yet sticky texture.Flavor is rich and fruity with plums and dry wood and some spiciness. Maybe cinnamon?Otherwise malty as the nose advertises with almost no hop presence to speak of anywhere. Caramel, brown sugar and a little warmth on the finish.Quite a nice complex barleywine. I wish I had a second bottle. (731 characters)

Found this one at City Bev awhile ago, and have had it cellared since. Thought about bringing this to a get-together this weekend, but my curiosity got me and I cracked it last night. Poured into a snifter.

The hop profile has long since faded, not that it was massive to begin with, but it's got that "old" flavor going on. Mild fruitiness, but not a whole lot noted - plum, apple. Not as sweet as expected. The bourbon character is very subtle, though that's not surprising either. All-in-all, this wasn't a big letdown, but it was just an average beer that I wouldn't pull the trigger on again when there's so many better options out there. (928 characters)

So glad that I gave this newer batch a try. While the 2010 batch bottled at BFM had soured, this 2011 batch bottled here in Georgia was a really unique and tasty barleywine. I'm kinda wishing I had purchased another bottle to try aging. If you were burned by the last batch, you should let this redeem it's self by giving this edition a whirl. (923 characters)

Came in a small fliptop bottle (I like these bottles for bottling homebrew gifts)Poured into an Allagash goblet.A direct smell of pickled, burnt cabbage soaked in rubbing alcohol permeated the air surrounding. My wife, who doesn't drink, exclaimed, "WHAT IS THAT SMELL?"She insisted that the smell couldn't be beer as it was unlike any beer she had smelled before.But, undeterred by the wretched and revolting "aroma", I took a deep swig.A long-forgotten but instantly remembered taste of gin vomit I had puked up during a high school binge-drinking session flooded my senses. Only this was far worse!I fear that this bottle had somehow become infected by some mutant bacterial fungus, or worse, Satan purposely urinated into the brew vat, fouling the whole batch up.At any rate, if you must buy a bottle, you should purchase a HAZMAT suit and gas mask, then just pour it into an open sewer. (898 characters)

On tap at Kickbacks in Jax. Poured into a snifter. Off-white head, moderate to low retention. Clear lacing. Dark, coppery hazy body. Aroma includes vanilla, caramel, port, brandy, and random deliciousness. Wow. Taste includes most of the same flavors with some slight alcohol heat. This is really quite amazing and I really can't wait to try this one into the future... (369 characters)

My first reaction was "oh no so sour." But it's grown on me. Smooth, dark brown with a hint of red, no carbonation. Rich mouth. Very sour on first taste with a sweet finish that balances it out. I wouldn't drink it every day but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. (270 characters)